(BlackDoctor.org) — Young women whose significant others are their primary source of spending money are more likely to report that they don’t use condoms, according to a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
• Almost one-quarter of the women in an HIV prevention study reported that they count on their significant other for spending money and that they had not used a condom in the preceding two months.
• Women who receive spending money from their family or a job, versus from a significant other, are more likely to use condoms.
These women may not explicitly exchange money for unprotected sex, says the report, “but their relationships may be implicitly transactional.”
“We live in a consumerist society in which people may feel that they cannot belong unless they have certain things,” explains lead author Janet Rosenbaum, Ph.D., who studies sexual decision-making at the University of Maryland Population Research Center. “Women who have needs that they feel aren’t being met may act unwisely to meet those needs.”